Pretoria - The Department of Home Affairs aims to attract about 50 000 skilled migrants to the country in the coming years.
Briefing the media on the department's Strategic Plan 2012/15, Director-General Mkuseli Apleni said the department needed to contribute to level of skills and general economic development in the country.
The department was also developing a policy relating to visas, in order to attract more skilled migrants to the country.
However, Apleni said certain areas would be targeted as South Africa did not want to create a situation where there would be a brain drain from Africa to the country.
"Focus should be on critical skills shortages, supportive of the medium term strategies and outcomes adopted by government," Apleni added.
Other areas included in the plan relate to the Department's Counter-Corruption Strategy, and securing the identity and status of citizens.
To help achieve this, Apleni said all strategic information and identification projects would need to be completed and effective, efficient refugee management strategies and systems implemented.
The department also wants to improve access and quality of service delivery by registering every child birth within 30 days of delivery, issuing ID documents to every South African 16 years and older; improving turnaround times for all services; and reducing the distances people need to travel in order to access Home Affairs services.
Apleni said other priorities include securing processes and systems to combat fraud and corruption, as well as increasing capacity to help fight cyber crime.
The department also wants to ensure ethical conduct from all its employees, adding it would continue with its zero tolerance approach to corruption.
